Learn to Sew!

There are many things housewives used to do that is now only done by a few: cooking everything from scratch, starching your husband's shirts, and a big one, sewing. Sewing can save you money, help you relax and give you a great feeling of accomplishment. It is also a fun way to carry down traditions as many women learn to sew from their mothers or grandmothers. When I think of classic living, I most definitely think of sewing as a part of it. Housewives can sew children's clothing, fix store bought clothing, make great gifts and make house decorations.

When did women stop using the skills learned in Home Ec class? A lot of women don't even take Home Ec anymore as it is not politically correct to offer it in schools and it's even more politically incorrect for a women to WANT to be good at things like cooking, cleaning and sewing. In my school it wasn't even called Home Ec, it was called Independent Living Skills and focused on cooking basic 'bachelor' style meals. I remember the only sewing we did was sewing a scrap of fabric using a few different stitch options.

If you don't know how to sew, ask! Ask your mom, aunt, grandmother or a friend to teach you how to sew. It can be a fun afternoon/day/weekend project. Do some practicing to see if you like it, then buy a machine a go for it! I have just a simple machine that cost around $100 from Hancock Fabric and it works just fine for me. My mom taught me how to sew last year in preparation for my nephew's birth. I wanted to make him a special blanket with lots of love that he can cherish for the rest of his life! No store-bought presents from this Auntie! The great thing about homemade things is they don't have to be perfect!

It can be a lot of fun picking out your fabric, thinking about thread combinations and accessories and planning the perfect project.

Since learning to sew I have had a lot of fun. Here are my projects so far, some with patterns, some just eye-balled :)

Skirt for my niece

Pajama pants for my nephew

Lavender sachets as favors for my sister's baby shower.

My nephew's baby blanket with imperfect binding...it's ok, because it's made with love!

Fabric coffee coozies. No more wasting those paper sleeves from Starbucks. Great gift for friends or co-workers.

Something (not so) fishy!

Since moving to New Zealand I have learned to appreciate some fresh seafood. The American Heart Association recommends that you eat fish at least twice a week, so it is helpful to have some easy recipes and meals on hand that include fish. If you are a beginner seafood eater (trust me, I'm one of them), it can be hard to know what to get from the store and how to prepare it in a way that is flavorful and not fishy :). I've been copying recipes from friends/restaurants in our time here, and now I feel like I have some good "go to" fish meals. Below are my top 3 recipes and all are really simple, but look/taste fancy! 

I think it quite fitting that when eating/preparing fish to think about The Bible story of how 5,000 men were fed with only five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21). Even though Jesus and his followers only had a little food, they shared what they had, and because Jesus thanked God for what they have, there was enough to go around! How many times in our life are we asked to give for various reasons, but we think, "Oh, I only have enough 'X' for me", "Oh, they'll just spend it on booze", or "Oh, someone else will stop and help that person"? We need to realize that God will provide and we should always help the needy. Maybe when you prepare/eat fish you should make double sure you thank God for what you have and give a little something extra to those in need? (See how that practical application can be so easy?!)

Snapper and Risotto

Risotto:
1/4 cup olive oil
finely chopped 
1 1/2 cups arborio rice 
1/2 cup white wine 
4-5 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter 
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 
salt and black pepper, to taste 
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

1. Hold the broth warm in a saucepan. Heat oil in a separate pot over medium heat. Add rice to olive oil and stir for 2 minutes.  Microwave white wine for about  20-30 sec so it becomes quite warm (prevents it from shocking the rice). Add white wine and let evaporate.
2. Add broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently. Wait until each additional 1/2 cup is almost completely absorbed by the rice. Continue to add until all of the broth has been used, or until the risotto is cooked to desired doneness.
3. Turn off heat, add butter, Parmesan cheese and all herbs. Stir to combine with rice/risotto. Transfer to large bowl and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately. Finished risotto should be creamy and rice is firm.

Snapper:
snapper
butter
lemon juice

1. Sprinkle some salt and pepper of the fillet. Coat snapper in flour mixed with some spices (use whatever you have on hand- I use turmeric, paprika and garlic)
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat
3. Put snapper in the pan and cook for about 3 min on each side. I just eyeball it and when it cooking and turn it when the fillet turns mostly white (it starts out more translucent). 
4. Just before you take it out of the pan, squeeze lemon juice and add a tab of butter and toss those all around in the pan so the juices flow freely over the fillets.

Plate it and done! I usually serve this meal with something green (salad, green beans, broccoli)

Roasted Salmon and Veggies

Roasted Veggies:

1 sweet potato, diced

3 parsnips, diced

1 potato (whatever variety you have on hand), diced

1. Heat oven to 350F/180C.

2. Combine all the root veggies in a baking dish big enough for the veggies to not be layered too thick. I would use a 9/13 cake pan. 

3. Coat the veggies with olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika 

4. Cook for about 20 min on high temp by itself, then 15 more minutes once the salmon has been put in the oven (35 min total).

5. Take out the veggies when the salmon is half-way done.

Salmon:

salmon

lemon juice

olive oil

assorted spices

1. Turn oven down from veggie temp to 250F/130C

2. Marinate Salmon in olive oil, and assorted spices (paprika, turmeric, salt, pepper). Let sit for 15-30 min)

3. Place Salmon in oven with the veggies and cook for 30 min.

Plate it and done! Again, I serve with green beans, salad or broccoli. 

White Fish and Orzo Pesto Salad

Orzo Pesto Salad:

1 bag baby spinach

1-2 cups broccoli, chopped and steamed

a good handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

orzo

homemade or pre-made pesto

1-2 cups pumpkin/sweet potato or both, diced

1. Roast pumpkin pieces in oven under high heat (300-400F) until fork tender, set aside.

2. Cook Orzo as directed from box, once cooked and drained, add a couple tablespoons of pesto and stir it around.

3. In a big serving bowl put about 3/4-1 of a bag of baby spinach. Then add orzo on top of the spinach (the heat wilts the leaves a bit--good!). Then add your cooked veggies and tomatoes. Put another tablespoon or two of pesto on top and toss it all around, coating everything in delicious pesto-ness. 

I got this recipe from a co-worker and have since made it part of my usual rotation of meals. I serve this salad with any white fish available in your supermarket (snapper, gunard, tilapia...) cooked as with flour coating as directed in the snapper recipe. These proportions make 4 servings of the salad.

Some other seafood options for your twice a week fish:

• Shrimp tacos
• Salmon white pizza
• Fish tacos
• Shrimp Scampi
• Homemade fish sticks with fries

Monthly Cleaning of House and Heart

There are several things around the house you should clean once a month. Sure, some might do this more than once a month. Many (myself included before now) don’t think about cleaning these areas until a problem arises. I challenge you to be proactive and maintain them rather than deal with them when there is a problem. You use the same cleaning materials (water, distilled white vinegar, baking soda and assorted scrubbing cloths/brushes) for each area, so it makes it easy to do in conjunction with one another.

  

Here is my monthly cleaning routine:

Dishwasher

To clean your dishwasher once a month first take the racks out and inspect all the nooks and crannys. Use an old toothbrush or scour pad to clean around the door hinges, around the filter, in the filter and anywhere else you see visible grime. Reference your manual if you are not sure how to get at the filter. Once you have de-gunked, put it all back together and pour 1 cup of vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher Then run the dishwasher on it's highest heat cycle with nothing in it other than the vinegar. Some sites say you can also add a little sugar-free lemonade powder to give it a good lemony smell. That’s it! Easy!

Washing Machine

I never thought about cleaning the washing machine before. Because it always smells so good, I don’t associate it with dirtiness, but it makes sense. The machine gets all the dirt and grime off your clothes, and how can little particles not get left behind? We have a front load washer so this is how I cleaned that style of washer. I opened our detergent dispenser and inspected it and was disgusted at how bad it had gotten. 

Yuck!

First I took out the detergent drawer. Again, look in your manual how to do this correctly so you don't break it! Then soak the drawer in a mixture of about 3 parts water to one part vinegar and about 1/4 cup of baking soda for about 15 minutes. After it has soaked and I used a scour pad, Q-tips, an old toothbrush and some elbow grease to scrub out the black stains and slimy parts. Rinse with water, then put it back in. 

I'm embarrassed to show this, but it's for the better good of society :) See the black grime?

While the drawer is soaking, check out inside the detergent dispenser. As I said, I hadn’t ever thought to look at this before, so I’m guess everyone else that lived here, and the landlords never thought about it either. Here is an after picture with using nothing but paper towels and elbow grease.

Like new!

Drains

It is important to keep the insides of your sinks clean to keep water flowing well and just for general health of your home and mold protection.

For bathrooms I recommend monthly to open up all drains and first de-clog any superficial issues (hair). It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it! Next pour a pot of boiling water down the sink. Follow that with ½ cup of baking soda. Let the baking soda sit for about 5 min then add 1 cup hot white distilled vinegar. If able, close the drain over that mixture to let it bubble below the surface. Visually inspect the drain with a flashlight and if there is remaining grime in the top part of the drain, try using a bottlebrush to dis-lodge it. After about 10-15 minutes flush another pot of boiling water down the drain and you’re done! This helps get any grime pushed through without having to use harsh chemicals like Drain-O, or if you don’t have access to good chemicals.

Use a rag or bottle brush to clean the top part of the inside of the drain

The garbage disposal can be another killer. No matter what I do, I always seem to have a stinky garbage disposal. I tried this a few weeks ago and it has actually seemed to work well and I haven’t noticed it being stinky! This is similar to the bathroom drains. Run very hot water down the drain for about 1 minute. Add ½ cup baking soda. Flick on the disposal for just a second or two to distribute the baking soda. Let that sit for about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup very hot vinegar and again let it bubble. Wait about 10 minutes then flush with very hot water. In between cleanings, make sure you flush it with hot water and run the disposal at least once a day to make sure no food sits in ready to rot and wipe out the top part with a rag to reduce slime once a week. Also, you can throw in some eggs shells or ice cubes to sharpen the blades when you do your monthly cleaning. One site even said to make ice cubes out of vinegar. Haven’t tried that yet, but sounds cool!

You'll see some bubbling. Bubbles= clean :)

Another practical Bible application is looming :) Psalm 51:10

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Pray that while you are working hard doing some deep cleansing for your home and your family, that God cleanses your/your family’s hearts of any troubles and renews your faith in the Lord our God.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy the recipes, activities and thoughts of a wife trying to stay “classic” while living in the modern world.

So what is this blog all about? This isn’t a blog about how to be “super woman” with a full-time powerful career, amazing social calendar, 2.5 kids and a beautifully styled home in suburbia. This is a blog about enjoying being a homemaker and living a classic life.

This can be a touchy subject and I want to make something very clear. I’m not out to criticize anyone’s lifestyle and I hope others don’t criticize mine. It is what I choose and this blog is for others who have made the same choice. I say live your life how you want! Life is all about choices- I choose this, you choose that, let’s all be friends.  Did I beat my point to death? Good.

The idea for this blog was about in varying degrees throughout the past few months and here’s how it started:

While staying with my grandparents for a few days before moving to New Zealand my grandpa made a statement about how hard it must be to raise a family these days. My grandma worked as a teacher for a few years then got married, had babies and became a housewife. It was expected, no one blinked an eye at her choice. Now, he says, I see moms pull into the grocery store kids in soccer uniforms and dance outfits at 6pm, grab a box of chicken and potato salad from the deli, then head home for their dinner from the store.

That struck a cord with me as that is what Will and I did many days while living in Minneapolis. I would stop at Rainbow on the way home to pick up a rotisserie chicken and make quesadillas or just eat the chicken with a boxed side dish at least once or twice a week. And we don’t even have kids yet! I was feeling tired, unmotivated, stressed and rushed. I never worked out because I was so tired from work and my commute. I didn’t eat really well because it was more convenient to make things from a box. I never made time for my husband. Will and I had to run all errands on the weekend so we didn’t really have much time for rest and relaxation. I’ll admit, we even often skipped church because we were just too tired or needed/wanted to do something else during that time. While I’m admitting things… I was not enjoying my life. I was struggling to juggle my job, husband, God, life and myself. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I added house and kids to the mix! I may have appeared to be the beginning of a “superwoman”, but underneath I was just going through the motions.

Fast forward a couple of months and we are living in Auckland, New Zealand (a 2 year placement for my husband’s work). I was only able to get a job 2 days per week here and was a excited at having more time during the week. I am amazed at the transformation I have made with my life. I joined a gym and go 3-5 times per week, I make healthy, homemade meals for my husband most days, I have more time to read and I generally feel good. I am also being a better wife, in other ways, if you know what I mean… I went from feeling overall stressed out, to overall relaxed and enjoying life.

So I hope you enjoy the blog as I share my journey of being a classic and traditional wife in a culture that tells women they should be able to do it all, rather than do what you can while maintaining happiness for you and your family.